Private sector companies should contribute to GAVI Matching Fund

The GAVI Alliance has "announced a major new initiative aimed at engaging private sector leaders: the GAVI Matching Fund," through which "the British Government's Department for International Development (DFID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will provide a 100 percent match of contributions to GAVI from corporations and foundations as well as their customers, members and employees," Bill Roedy, former CEO of MTV Networks and a GAVI Alliance envoy, writes in a post on the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog. "Together, DFID and the Gates Foundation have pledged $130 million to support this effort, which means there's the potential to generate $260 million for global childhood immunization efforts," he notes.

Roedy calls on private sector leaders to contribute to the fund, writing, "Just think: A $3 million donation -- matched by DFID or the Gates Foundation -- would buy enough vaccines to immunize more than a half million children against pneumococcal disease in 2012 -- one of the main causes of death from pneumonia -- or nearly a million children against diarrhea caused by rotavirus. I can't think of a better return on investment" (11/4).